A Shi'ite cleric speaks to the protesters after clash between in Karachi November 27, 2011. PHOTO: REUTERS

KARACHI: Muharramul Haram began on a bitter note as two men were killed while a third was wounded when a scout camp was shot at Numaish Chowrangi on M A Jinnah Road on Sunday evening.

The incident, that occurred at about 4:30 pm sparked protests that left parts of M A Jinnah Road ablaze well into the night. Law enforcers finally managed to disperse the majority of the charged crowd by 9 pm after resorting to heavy aerial firing that left eight people injured including a television reporter.

Earlier, the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat, formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), held their annual Yaum-e-Omar rally at Tibet Centre. Nearby, at Numaish Chowrangi, scouts are deployed at a camp set up annually to help organise Muharram proceedings at the Shah-e-KhurasanImambargah. As the rally dispersed and participants moved towards the roundabout and shots were fired at the camp. Scouts Zainul Abideen and Azhar Ali died instantly while Ayaz Ali was wounded. They were taken to Civil hospital. Zainul Abideen and Ayaz were with the Buturab Scouts while Azhar with theHyderi Scouts.

The reaction was immediate. People gathering at the Imambargahfor the majlis rerouted to the roundabout and the situation escalated into a protest. Assuming that the shooters were taking refuge in a masjid-cum-madrassa that belonged to the rival school of thought opposite the camp, the protesters flocked to the mosque and besieged it. They gathered the vehicles in the parking lot and set them on fire. In the havoc, fire tenders were unable to save the burning vehicles.

The Rangers, who are deployed in this sensitive corner of Saddar around the clock, cordoned-off the area and entered the mosque. It is believed that the Rangers detained 50 people from inside, including three alleged shooters, but were not able to extricate them from the mosque surrounded by the mob demanding an eye for an eye.

There were also 50-odd people inside the mosque that would have been as good as dead had the authorities left with three men in their custody. They reportedly spent hours preparing an escape route in the back and getting the people out safely. All fifty are in their custody.

Despite getting the three armed suspects into their armoured personnel carrier, it took the authorities an hour of aerial firing and shelling to clear a passage. There were also reports that the mob also opened fire and pelted the law enforcers with stones. Even after the crowd dispersed, the area was gripped with tension and there were reports of men forcing shops to close in different areas.

Reaction and aftermath

The Shia Ulema Council condemned the incident and said that it would protest.

“The aim of the perpetrators was to stop our mourning and ours is to keep it going,” said Shia scholar, Allama Abbas Kumaili.

For their part, ASWJ spokesman Maulana Taj Hanfi distanced his party from the incident and termed it a conspiracy. “Why are we blamed whenever something like this happens?” he asked. Home Minister Manzoor Wassan took immediate notice of the incident and ordered the District South DIG Commandant, Shaukat Ali Shah, to give his top priority on the compilation of a report on the incident.

The three suspects are being questioned and two investigation teams have been formed, led by the Crime Investigation Department and DIG East.

DIG Commandant Shah said that the men attacked the camp on their way back from the Youm-e-Omar rally at Tibet Centre. He said that the situation turned violent when the law enforcers refused to hand the culprits over to protesters.

Police claim they were trying to get the people inside the mosque out which is what caused the delay.

It is very disturbing that this incident occurred on the first day of Moharram. Though it has nothing to with the Moharram procession but nevertheless the situation is grave for the last four hours and it seems that the area has become a battle ground.

The law enforcement agencies must make sure that Moharram procession should not be disturbed until the Moharram is completely over, otherwise it is going to spread in other areas of Karachi and one never knows how many innocent people will be killed in such incidents.

What in the world is this?? I just visited this website to check the reaction of Pakistani people on the NATO attack and i get to read how people in Pakistan decided to torch their own cars? Loot their own shops? and the police had to resort to firing??? I am flabbergasted , no words to express. So am i to think that during the funeral procession of these two people who were killed in firing , more people will be killed again

That,s was realy astonishing such sort of activities are conducted by people of karachi which called the mother of poors have a condolence on injury of a journalist who serves to communicate the people problems

@Noon Meem:
First, there was no rally against NATO. Second, everyone knows who is behind these killings. Don’t try to put blame on “foreign hands”, in case you have strong sympathies for these killers. At least be honest with yourself.Recommend

Can protesters not worship inside their worship places or it is written in quran that procession should be taken out.more than 500 billions loss in the last 20 years have been spent on muharram processions and after effects riots.Till pakistan bankrupt.theses processions will not stop.what does it mean to raise slogans and pass through bazaars. does it mean to impress other sects or power show.

what is this?? you are totally wrong…..The issue is there was banned organisation rally on numaish during rally they opened fire on Abu Turab Scout Camp on Numaish chowrangi, two youngsters dead on the spot and one injured.. after that ALL four person who opened the fire ran away… and this is all the reaction of incident and 8 injured when rangers open fire on protectors.. plz try to write truth otherwise not write..Recommend

This is totally baseless news, the rally was organized by a banned organization (Sipah-e-Sahaba). When the participants of the rally were returning they opened fired at a scouts camp, which was setup for the month of muharram, as a result of firing two scouts person where died. After that the culprits involved in firing took shelter in a near by Masjid-e-Khatma Nabuwat at Numaish Chowrangi. The people gathered at incident went there and tried to hold the attackers. After that people protest at the site against the law enforcement agencies that why such banned organization are allowed to arrange such rallies and are protect by rangers and police.

Mr Justice why you cant stop political activities?? why no one opened fired on political rallies?? why all target just shia community and their activites?? In Country there are many thing you have to stop 1st?? and i think after that you will tell banned on 12th rabi ul awal rallies so let we do one thing kill each others..

May the innocent scouts rest in peace, SSP is veritable arm of powerful forces, what is the compensation for a life, paper money. More reason to participate in Moharram procession, as ever a protest against injustice and killings.

can anyone put sanity in these procession organizers and hold them responsible. Why these processions are not taking place outside the city or atleast inside buildings. This is happening in Iran and also in pakistan with tableeghees

It is quite obvious that there are sections of Pakistani society for example sepa sahaba and company for whome Islam does not mean peace, but blind haterd and taking innocent lives. This terrorist organisation has been committing crime against humanity for past three decades with impunity, call it complacency on part of establishment or their absolute collusion with these coward murderers, or let say these terrorists are strategic asset, who knows!

Its not secretarian killing. Please do not spread your ill thoughts without investigation.

Why the strong negative reaction? What if his ill thoughts turns out to be true? Then what? Will you still deny it or simply keep quiet? Condemn the ill actions by extremists? Have your anxiety raised if the worst is confirmed because you are part of the minority? Or have your guilt raised because of feeling culpable being part of the majority? Worried any news on sectarianism is bad news, cause for tension and should be censored, even though it won’t address the problem?

Why doesn’t everyone go burn non-Pakistani property, rather than burn the meager resources we have? Burning property owned by Pakistanis cause loss to ourselves rather than the Americans. This is why the Americans and NATO only offer “regrets” rather than a proper apology.

Mr. InJustice, if you think there should not be any kind of rallies then first of all go there and stop the rallies which have been started in recent past or being started now like one on Tibit Centre. Would you like to allow others to fire on them as well? Would you like Hindus to do the same in India with Muslims ‘ rallies? would you like to allow the same from Christians to do whatever your kind of people are doing with other pakistanis ? Hope you would also allow this kind of dealing from Africans with your fellow muslims. If you consider recalling of historical facts a sin, giving right to killing then Hope you will allow all the NOn-Muslims to inflict the same in their countries for talking against their religious beliefs and preaching yours.

@faraz:
@Freeman:
It is not sectarian killing it is the love, harmony and peaceful existence expressed Wahabi style! A known terrorist Wahabi party SSP which is banned holds its rally in the close vicinity of Shia mourning the death of prophet’s (PBUH) family. The people who were killed are all Shia names. Let us not tell the truth and hide it. From Baluchistan to KPK to Punjab to now Karachi the killing of minorities continues and we are all up in arms about other things. After more than 35 thousand innocent Pakistanis killed by Taliban and their terrorist allies we are more upset about the death of a couple of dozen people in the war zone.

Aside from the very wrong and facetious headline, the actions described seem incredibly stupid. It seems like religion here is just a cover for stupid and opportunistically vengeful behaviour. It doesn’t deserve even a purpose driven title like “Occupy”, but rather a Darwin Awards nomination.

I am very sorry, though for the murder of the two scouts, and offer my condolences to their families.

I had earlier criticized ET for having somewhat of a sanitized news report of the violence earlier where it seemed like the article suggested the violence was instigated by anti-NATO protests only, when commentators would instead update us that it was indeed a sectarian attack.

Now the updated news article has confirmed as such, with full details.

Well, done, ET. Perhaps I was impatient of wanting quick news rather than accurate news. Wish your journalist who was injured by the shooting stays safe and recovers soon.

For their part, ASWJ spokesman Maulana Taj Hanfi distanced his party from the incident and termed it a conspiracy. “Why are we blamed whenever something like this happens?” he asked.

Conspiracy? Zionists?!

Just a thought…but perhaps your documented past and use of violent rhetoric of sectarian cleansing and massacres against minority Shia Muslims, while your bigoted extremist activists hob-nob with known terrorist outfits such as Lashkar-e-Jhangiv, maybe, some reasons why you get blamed…..

Plus then there’s of course your group having a rally nearby, on the 1st of Muharram, would coincide with the targeted shooting and killing of those in an Imambargah camp….but sure, it’s probably a conspiracy, because you’re such a peace loving organization and contribute absolutely nothing to hate…../sarc

Read carefully report “the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat, formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), held their annual Yaum-e-Omar rally at Tibet Centre.”
Why scouts of opponents are there while 9th and 10th is very far.

Why would MQM be involved in this , there are a large number of shias in MQM.Anyways doesnt anyone remember An MPA of MQM was gunned down by Sipah Sahaba just because he was shia and everybody made it into a conspiracy theory that MQM did it.

Never sunni burnt public properties as thousand bombs hit mosques to bazaars to GHQ to navy and airforce buses and headquarters. Thousands sunni pakistani died in war on terrors bombs but they start rescuing injured to hospital because they love pakistan and not iran like shia protesters who start burnig public properties and looting shops.Some shia leaders have become billioners as they loot cars and buses and shop during riots. thousands pakistani police,soldiers and civilians martyred but they statrt helping wounded people instead of loot khasoot and burning innocent people cars.this is not first time that muharram protesters destroy pakistan public property

Needless tragedy. The firing was bad enough to start with, but the rioting is completely unacceptable. Why in the world were they burning things down. Who is going to pay for all the lost livelihood. 7 people got shot due to the firing to control the crowd. One person was burned with his motorcycle. What was their fault? Even if you assume the crowds suspicion had an inkling of the truth, If the Rangers were not present 50 people would have been lynched.

In 2009 after the Ashura bomb blast which killed anywhere between 30-50 ppl, 4000 shops were burnt down, 30 Billion rupees went up in smoke and 10,000- 30,000 ppl lost there livelihood. What was their fault. Does anyone think the victims of the blast would have wanted such carnage to be visited on innocent others????

They rangers seemed to have done their job. You cant hand over suspects to a mob to lynch.I am sick of this happening predictably every year. If i were in the government I would move all religious festivities into Stadiums and closed of areas. What ever sect or religion you may belong to. No police force in the world can protect miles after miles of streets especially in Pakistan. No need for this to spill over the streets, there is no logical , moral or religious justification for any of this.

don’t turn this into what it is not – it’s only two dead – a statistical minuscule. trust PTI there’ll be justice – 2 dead ain’t that big- let’s think of 28 soldiers killed .

Wow…good job in white washing! Next time I hear a black dude killed by a white supremacist racist, I’ll ignore it as statistically minuscule! No, no, don’t add up the other days of long pattern targeting through decades, just look at it one day at a time! What, the African American community are rioting…ignore it, don’t know what they’re complaining about…think of dead US soldiers!

Oh you’re so right…..and when their procession gets bombed with 50 killed (and not just processions, but Masjids, graves, homes, but concentrate on something else…KASHMIR!), we’ll just point out that a 100 got killed at some bazaar in Peshawar a year ago! Or that they’re attacked everyday, we’ll say it’s worse in Syria…!

Don’t talk about sectarianism…..shhhh…it’s taboo….hum sub bhai bhai hai…ignore the scary man with the gun aimed at you…he’s not really that bad…maybe for you, not me….

In case no one’s noticed…I’m being sarcastic. And I find the bias and cowardly cop out of trying to not acknowledge our long-term extremist and sectarianism problem that has claimed thousands of lives despicable.

Like a true reflection of PTI, Imran Khan and his VP Ejaz Chaudry, the man with all the links to sectarian groups, a one time NATO event to ratchet up the anti-West hate trumps any real solution or concrete step to acknowledge domestic extremism and terrorism against minorities, where parts of Karachi is literally in FLAMES (but hey, ignore it!). After all, it was Imran Khan who seemed to justify and sympathize with the Taliban for all their suicide bombings against minorities because of their imagined grievance against the government!

But thanks for not condemning the incident.

It is what it is. A Sunni extremist/Wahhabi group targeting Shia practitioners in the land of the pure.

While you live in your cowardly denial, minority prejudice and contribute with nothing except obfuscation, there’ll be another anti-minority attack.

Can protesters not worship inside their worship places or it is written in quran that procession should be taken out.more than 500 billions loss in the last 20 years have been spent on muharram processions and after effects riots.Till pakistan bankrupt.theses processions will not stop.what does it mean to raise slogans and pass through bazaars. does it mean to impress other sects or power show.

First of all these scouts that were murdered were at their places of worship.

You seem to have no ire towards the SSP who were the ones who held a public rally nearby.

Riots are only triggered once the extremist attacks are made. Yet this is ignored, if not justified, apparently.

The Muharram processions mark a famous historical event, regardless if you agree or don’t agree with it. It means freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and no it’s not promoting violent rhetorical threats towards other sects as the SSP constantly does. Most tolerant and democratic nations accommodate it.

Today has been a very sad day for me and my family, we were extremely shocked to hear that news. I almost didn’t believe it when mum told me that this incident happened. One of the scouts that passed away happened to be my Uncle Azhar Ali. May Allah have mercy on his soul. I pray to Allah that justice Should be brought upon those murdurers who fired their pistols in cold blood.

A diversion made by PPP Sindh to move the people’s attention from Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s Ghotki rally and announcing his political future with PTI. So that the sectarian tension sparks another media debate to diverge attention from PTI’s successful rally. PPP is a disgrace so is SSP. Unite Pakistanis and Muslims for god sake before its too late.

Never sunni burnt public properties as thousand bombs hit mosques to bazaars to GHQ to navy and airforce buses and headquarters. Thousands sunni pakistani died in war on terrors bombs but they start rescuing injured to hospital because they love pakistan and not iran like shia protesters who start burnig public properties and looting shops.Some shia leaders have become billioners as they loot cars and buses and shop during riots. thousands pakistani police,soldiers and civilians martyred but they statrt helping wounded people instead of loot khasoot and burning innocent people cars.this is not first time that muharram protesters destroy pakistan public property

A perfect snapshot of not just deluded anti-Shia, anti-minority religious intolerance and bigotry, but apparently deluded Sunni supremacist views as well…

Born in the walled city of Lahore, I witnessed every year till the 10th of Muharram the ugliest verbal and physical violence between Shias and Sunnis.

This morbid sectarian religion, which comprises mainly of Shias and Sunnis, is totally poisoned with hatred and violence against each other.

I was born into a Sufi family and internalized only the spiritual meaning of life “God is breath!” I found the same spiritual parallels in my ancient religious scriptures of the subcontinent, like the Upanishads which says: 1. “Ekam evadvitiyam” “He is One only without a second.” “Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste” “They enter darkness, those who worship the four natural elements”…..and here we have the Islamic republic of Pakistan, where humans worship humans(earth, fire, water,air)…….. and kill each other!

To avoid killing of innocence’s and prevent city life from disturbance my humble suggestion is declare Pakistan a secular state according to the vision of the father of nation and all religion processions and gatherings of all sects and jalsay, jaloos, rallies of all religious, political, ethnic groups and parties at public places be banned strictly. Such activities be allowed only within boundary walls and make it sure that traffic and city life will go through as routine. I know my suggestion will be condemned by majority of the people but if you would think over it by cool mind then you must feel it worthy and logically. I appeal to Ulema try to convince their followers that processions at streets is not compulsory to show your love for Islam.

This just annoys me. Why can’t Pakistanis be brave and ‘ghairatmand’ enough to tolerate differences? Why can’t shias tolerate sunnies and sunnies tolerate shias.? Do we have to fire and kill and destroy everything different.

As Long as we keep silent on the activities of hate based organizations such as Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Majlis-e-Khatam-e-Nabawwut, such incidents will continue to happen. We should ban hate speeches from every school of thoughts being the follower of Holy Prophet (S.A.W) whose message is Peace for all as Rehmatul LilAalameen (S.A.W).

@Fatima:
It is really sad that innocent scouts were killed. the government should put a stop not only to rallies organized by the SSP and other fundamentalist parties but also to the processions taken out by cults.

stop not only to rallies organized by the SSP and other fundamentalist parties but also to the processions taken out by cults.

I’m guessing the ‘cult’ implying the Shia Muslims, which would itself suggest inherent views of subtle prejudice or bias against the minority sectarian group.

It is a false equivalence in comparing bigoted hate group organizations, who’ve indulged in sectarian terrorism against all minorities, whose sole declared purpose is to eradicate or cleanse a sectarian minority from Pakistan because they do not like the implications of their historic narrative, as compared to the general religious ritual processions by such sectarian minority, also practiced elsewhere as majorities in other countries, that commemorate a religious historic event that is not advocating violence on any other Pakistani. At worst, some have had organized reactionary vigilante militant groups that target sectarian terrorists from such majority organizations, which should be banned.

Don’t necessarily disagree how it could be viewed as ‘cultish’ considering the rituals…and should argue about it on it’s own merits. However, it is the false equivalency of assuming them at the same level as a bigoted sectarianism organization, and a false pre-text of having them banned because of your majority views of them being a ‘cult’.

@bigsaf:
It is sad that two innocent young men were killed. Clearly organizations like SSP are terrorist in nature and should have serious actions taken against them. However, at the same time religious cults should also be stopped from disrupting the city by taking out processions.

We every time blame Zionist’s and America for every mishap that happens in any corner of PakistanDo you thing that it is a fact ?
I don’t think so ..We should wake up and face the truth that until we became Pakistani other than Shiite,Sunni ,Punjabi,Sindhi etc ,We can’t become a developed nation and other will get benefit from this at any cost.

@Raja Islam
Let me guess. Any school of though within Islam that disagrees with yours is a cult? Anyone that does not believe what you believe is a cultist. Isnt it like this? No matter if that school of thought is as ancient as your school and has it origins as the die-hard loyalists of the losing side (the family of Muhammad (pbuh)) in the great civil war between sahaba while you have your origins as loyalists of the winning side of that great civil war (the Banu Ummaya).

Lets all turn our backs on the inconvenient truths of history and just go around calling people who disagree with your version of faith as cultists regardless of whether they follow a school of thought older as yours. Im sure that makes you feel so much better.

Remember Raja mian, to Firoun, Musa’s (as) followers were cultists. And to the Jews, Isa (as) was a cultist. And to the Pagan Arabs Muhammad (pbuh) was a cultist.

@Noise:
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices. The word was first used in the early 17th century denoting homage paid to a divinity and derived from the French culte or Latin cultus, ‘worship’, from cult-, ‘inhabited, cultivated, worshipped,’ from the verb colere, ‘care, cultivation’. There is a difference between cult and a religion. Cults are focused around individuals and tend to create an identity for the members of the group based on the individual. Cults maintain themselves through mind control and create a commonality of thought and purpose within the group by simplifying a cause and focusing on it.